THE KILLERS (1964) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Don Siegel
Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes,
Clu Gulager, Ronald Reagan, Claude Akins,
Norman Fell, Robert Phillips, Burt Mustin
Robert Siodmak's 1946 version of "The Killers" had the distinction of being Burt Lancaster's first movie. Don Siegel's 1964 version has the distinction of being Ronald Reagan's last. It stars the Gipper as a gangster who plans a mail-truck robbery and hires an auto racer (John Cassavetes) to help with the driving. The heist nets over $1 nillion, and others with an interest in the loot include Reagan's two-timing girlfriend (Angie Dickinson) and a pair of ruthless hit men (Lee Marvin and Clu Gulager). The movie's tough, hard-boiled and wildly misanthropic, especially the opening sequence, in which the hit men, wearing dark shades, invade a school for the blind, rough up the blind receptionist, and gun down a teacher at point-blank range. And it's got Reagan, for once showing the malice that always existed beneath the affable, slicked-down surface. It's too bad more voters weren't paying attention.
